


Throw Me To The Flames

by towokuwusatsuwu



Category: Kamen Rider Wizard
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 06:30:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10961631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: In a world where finding your soulmate gives you color vision, Haruto finds himself only able to see the world around him through new eyes when he meets the Phantom Gremlin, who still calls himself Sora Takigawa.





	Throw Me To The Flames

The first time Haruto Souma touches Sora Takigawa, he saves his life.

When Sora disappears over the edge of the bridge, when he screams, Haruto loses sight of the battle waging around him. He leaves Nitoh to do the hard work, transforming and launching himself over the edge after Sora, two thoughts in mind. The first is that fire will not enable him to search the recesses of the water for Sora, the water extinguishing his flames and putting him at a severe disadvantage. The second is that he cannot let Sora die when he is uncertain as to whether the human Sora Takigawa still lives inside of his shell.

He does not know what it takes to kill a Phantom. He does not know if drowning is effective enough to kill them. All he knows is that he cannot let Sora die, and so he plummets into the icy water and searches until he finds him.

Transformed, he doesn’t feel anything. Sora is limp and cold in his arms, but he breathes, and Haruto lays him down on the ground once he drags the both of them out of the water. His mana is drained, so he loses his transformation as well. It’s too be expected given how much effort it takes to hold water underwater, after all.

It’s when he stretches up a hand to brush a strand of wet hair out of Sora’s face that their skin finally touches for the first time. Initially, Haruto would have thought nothing of it. After all, he’s touched everyone he’s ever helped before. He has to touch them in order to slide the Engage ring on their fingers, after all. But this is different.

When he touches Sora, the world blooms to color around him. The ring still in place on his finger shines blue for the first time— a fitting color for Water, he supposes— and it’s enough for him to see the flush of life in Sora’s cheeks. He sighs in relief even has he retracts his hand, staring down at the still face framed by tangled, wet curls.

Sora Takigawa is his soulmate.

* * *

When he was still a small child, Haruto’s parents had explained to him that a world existed beyond what his grayscale vision could grant him. They told him that when he meant the person the fates had chosen to be by his side for the rest of eternity, he would be gifted with color vision, to see the world in a different light. In so many colors he would never be able to imagine a world without it. They could see it, even though he couldn’t, and it intrigued him. Even as a child, Haruto always wanted to find the person who would change his world forever.

He cared significantly less when his parents passed away. The grief of their deaths ate him up inside until he no longer had enough strength to care. It was when he met Kazuya that he thought things might be different, that he thought he would have someone to care about, someone who would change his world, change the world for him.

But nothing changed when he took Kazuya’s hand in his. Nothing changed. The world was still in muted shades of gray. None of it was enough to change anything.

After the Sabbat, he thought Koyomi… He thought maybe she had been given to him for more of a purpose than for him to simply keep her alive. But again, nothing changed. And he accepted it and moved on, because Koyomi was more of his little sister anyway. He would do anything to keep her safe, to keep her happy.

Nothing changes when he meets Rinko, or Shunpei, or Nitoh. He would have been more than happy if Rinko had been his soulmate, or if Shunpei had even though the human boy tends to drive him crazy in more ways than one. Even though he grows closer to Nitoh over time, he still isn’t sure he wants to be drawn to him together.

He’s only minutely jealous when Nitoh and Shunpei touch for the first time and their worlds change when his has still failed to.

Without his mana, he can’t use Fire’s power to start a fire, so he starts one by hand, with what dry wood he can find this close to the water. He finds himself entranced by the dancing orange and yellow hues, blue at the very tips. He rubs his hands together, holds them up to the aura of heat surrounding the fire, pleased that it holds as he works some feeling back into his numb fingers. Sora doesn’t move, but his chest rises and falls with his slow, even breaths.

Haruto is a little surprised. He never really paid attention to the fact that Phantoms breathe. If he hadn’t gone after Sora, he most likely would have drowned.

_ My soulmate, _ he thinks.  _ My soulmate would have drowned. _

The thought is staggering. He’s spent most of his life searching for the person unconscious next to him, the person who would make him happy, the person who might be his true hope… And he had almost lost him without even realizing it. He had almost lost his soulmate…

Even more staggering is the idea— the reality— that his soulmate is a Phantom. Even if Sora Takigawa still lives within the body that has been consumed by despair and spawned the Phantom Gremlin, Haruto doesn’t know if that changes anything. He would have sworn that Phantoms could never be soulmates given the fact that they aren’t human. They can’t possibly have souls. Which leaves him with what Sora said… That he might still be human.

He leans over to check Sora’s pulse, pressing his fingers just beneath his jaw to feel the firm beating there. Sora’s skin is still cold but not as cold as it was when he first found him, and he pulls him a little closer to the flames.

Then, he settles back, keeping the fire between them, and waits for Sora to wake up.

* * *

Sora doesn’t notice anything has changed, at first. He’s surprised to find himself alive, surprised to find himself on the shore— and shocked to find that his hat is missing. It’s when he’s stumbling to his feet to find it when the pain hits him, the deep ache in his midsection and chest from Argos’s blade. He falls back to the ground, and that’s when he sees Haruto Souma and the fire. That’s when he realizes that Haruto Souma, the Wizard who has been plaguing every Phantom to come into contact with him, has saved his life.

And that’s when he realizes the sky above him is a vivid, bright blue.

“Oh,” he says, blinking up at it before turning his head to look at Haruto once again. The Wizard does not look at him, his gaze fixed on some point in the distance. Sora wonders if Haruto will not meet his eyes anymore. “Well, this is ugly. I never even liked Argos, and—”

“Don’t try to be cute about this situation. You know it wasn’t Argos.” Haruto’s voice is strangely soft, devoid of his usual fervor.

Sora sighs, looking up at the sky. He knows. He  _ knows, _ but he was giving Haruto the out he most likely wanted from all of this, and the stupid Wizard wasn’t smart enough to take it after all. “Fine, then. You saved my life. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I just couldn’t let you fall.” Haruto sounds like he’s struggling with the words, the meaning of which must be too much for him to bear right now.

Sora chews on his lower lip. “Maybe you should have.”

“No. No, I… I might not know if this was the right thing to do or not, but I know I’m not going to regret doing it.” Haruto heaves a sigh, combing his fingers through his hair. Sora wonders if it’s soft to the touch. To his eyes, it looks it. He’s had enough experience with hair to know what soft hair truly looks like.

The thought of hair makes him remember the woman. He wonders what Haruto would think if he told him the reason he saved her was because he wanted to kill her himself.

At the thought, the urge rises up within him once again, only to lull into silence once more when Haruto finally looks at him. Those soft brown eyes capture his gaze and Sora finds himself turning away, not wanting to bear their weight. How he managed to end up soulbound to a Wizard, he isn’t sure. Isn’t his life as a Phantom punishment enough for what he did as a human? He would have thought so. He hates what he’s become more than anything else.

“You must be upset,” he says, finally pushing himself into a sitting position. He still aches, but he doesn’t want to lick his wounds in front of Haruto. “To be bound to a Phantom like this.”

He’s surprised when Haruto immediately speaks, pushing himself up to his feet, holding out a hand to where Sora sits. “You said you weren’t a Phantom, Sora.”

The sound of his name, his true name, from the lips of another person, from the lips of the person the universe chose to be his forever, makes Sora feel strange. The warmth inside of him should feel good, but it just makes him recoil slightly, makes him feel shy as he reaches up to take Haruto’s hand, allow himself to be pulled to his feet. This wasn’t something he planned on, but how could anyone have planned for a moment like this?

He’d thought he’d found the love of his life, once. But she’d found someone else, and then—

“My hat,” he finally says when he’s standing, wavering only slightly on his feet. “I want to at least look for it. Will you help me?”

Haruto sighs, tips his head back until he’s staring up at the sky. “Sure. I guess.”

* * *

The truth is not as horrifying as it should be to Haruto. Standing there between Rinko and Kizaki, staring at the slew of photos with Sora’s face in their center, he should be terrified. He should be shaking. He should be cursing the very universe that forced his hand and connected him to the clear monster of a man that is Sora Takigawa. It doesn’t matter that he was once human, that he might still have a human heart— he’s a demon masquerading behind a polite smile and in human flesh, and nothing about him is calm or comforting.

Instead, disappointment weighs heavy on his shoulders, and he squeezes his eyes shut. If Sora is going to hurt Chiaki, then he needs to find them both before he can do so.

Finding him isn’t nearly as difficult as Haruto would expect it to be. The bond between them is like a homing device and he finds the private salon tucked away in the abandoned building, the sumptuous crimson and violet hues hurting his eyes. He’s more than a little shocked to find Sora just standing behind Chiaki, listening to her talk while he runs a brush through her hair and occasionally snips a bit at the ends.

“Haruto,” he says in surprise when he glances up at the mirror, before turning his eyes back to his client. “You scared me. Knock next time.”

“What are you doing?” Haruto tries to keep his voice as light and calm as he can, but his words shake just the same.

Sora seems to notice. His shoulders tense for just a moment, and Haruto can see in his reflection the moment his face falls.  _ He knows I know. _ “Her hair was mussed in the last fight. I noticed it after I saved her— again, which is your job— so I brought her here to fix it.”

Chiaki flashes Haruto a smile in the mirror. “He’s actually very good at it.”

In the end, Haruto takes Chiaki back to her manager, and Nitoh deals with Argos, which is fine because he needs the mana to replenish himself anyway. Sora hovers always on the edge of the scene, never quite comfortable to become a part of it, and Haruto finally turns to him once all is said and done, not sure what to say, what to think.

“What you did to those women—” he starts.

“Was bad,” Sora interrupts, and he doesn’t lift his head when he does. In fact, he takes a few steps back, widening the gap between them. “I don’t expect you to forgive me for that. No matter what the universe says, we were never meant to be.”

The truth should set Haruto free, of course. Because how can someone destined to fight monsters ever be expected to fall in love with one? But instead he moves closer, the gap shrinking until he can take Sora by the wrists. “Don’t go.”

“It’s for the best. This is what I have to do. You deserve to be happy.” Sora tries to smile up at him, but it doesn’t work, and for some reason, an ache blooms in Haruto’s chest. “There is nothing I could do to redeem myself for what I’ve done, and you can’t have anything holding you back in all of this. Go back to thinking we’re all monsters.”

Haruto shakes his head. “You’re not a monster, Sora. I can’t do that.”

He’d never known a Phantom could disappear while someone was holding them. Sora is there, and then he’s gone, with only the faintest pressure in Haruto’s hands to remind him that Sora was ever there in the first place.

* * *

“You were helping him,” Haruto says when he feels the slight brush of wind against his cheeks. He doesn’t have to open his eyes. He knows only one Phantom would want to enter his bedroom like this with everyone else gone.

A slight weight drops down onto the side of his bed, and he feels a pair of hands take one of his in their warm grasp. “I have to do as I’m told by Wiseman, Haruto.”

He wants to argue the point further but doesn’t, just content to have Sora close and holding his hand for a change. The distance between them has made him feel a low, deep pang in his gut for far too long, but it seems soothed away by Sora’s presence. He feels Sora lifting his hand and almost opens his eyes to see what Sora is doing when he feels soft, soft lips press a kiss to the back of his hand. It startles a small gasp out of him.

“I think Wiseman is lying to me, though,” he finally says.

Haruto forces his eyes open at these words and looks up at Sora, at the way the soft setting sun plays an orange glow upon his skin. “What do you mean?”

“He says the only way to cause the Sabbat to happen again is to gather more Phantoms, but I don’t believe that to be true.” Sora presses his cheek against the palm of Haruto’s hand, and Haruto marvels at how warm and soft the skin is there. “I wanted to come check on you. You ran out of mana when you were fighting Raum.”

Unable to help himself, Haruto scoffs. “So you were worried about me but not enough to stay by my side. I see.”

“If I leave your side, Wiseman could come for me. I know too much. Do you want your world to go back to gray now that you’ve seen it like this?” Sora tilts his head, indicating the brilliant spectrum of color just in this one room, the way the sun coming through the window makes tiny rainbows at the edges of the light.

“Fine.” Haruto strokes his thumb along the line of Sora’s cheekbone, hears his breathing catch. “Just stay safe for me, then, okay?”

Sora smiles as he dissipates into nothingness once again.

* * *

Sora doesn’t want anything as much as he wants to be human again.

Well, this doesn’t happen to be true. He does want to make Haruto Souma happy, and that is in large part why he does what he does, playing both sides of the field at the same time. He needs the information he can only get by acting as Wiseman’s loyal dog, and it gives him a prime front row seat to the goings-on around him. It lets him watch the battles and discern the real reason what Wiseman is so desperate to create more Phantoms.

They don’t need more. Sora has already come to that conclusion.

The Sabbat occurred for a reason. There was some purpose Wiseman had for inducing the entire thing, for killing so many humans to release the despair growing inside of them. And it had failed. Sora doesn’t know what yet, but he does know something happened. And now Wiseman wants to hold it again, if only to try one more time.

When the young boy with Beast manages to contain his despair and become a Wizard, Sora is impressed. He hates to hold his distance. He hates to see Medusa drain Haruto of his mana— every single part of his body screams at him to  _ do something, save him, don’t let her— _ but if he’s right, her time will come soon enough.

When the White Wizard appears to take the boy, Sora watches. He makes notes of it. And slowly, the pieces he has been steadily assembling fall into place.

It’s why, in the end, he reaches out to the people Haruto calls his friends. They all stare at him distrustfully, and they all have a right to, the two Wizards and the human woman. But he intends to make good on his promise to stay alive for Haruto, and the promise he made himself long ago that he would do what he had to do to become human again.

As a human, he can finally give Haruto the happiness he has long deserved.

* * *

“How did you know where he was hiding?” Haruto asks. It’s late, and both Wajima and Koyomi are asleep upstairs. Golem had come to tell him that Sora was here at the door asking for him, and after making them both a cup of tea, Haruto had sat him down on the couch to talk.

Sora sighs, tracing the rim of the cup with a single finger. “I wish I could tell you. I really do, but I can’t. If he finds out you know, now, we could both be in far more trouble than we can handle. You have to trust me to know what I’m doing.”

Haruto wants to tell him that it’s easier said than done when he doesn’t feel like he knows where Sora’s true loyalty lies, but he doesn’t. He’ll keep that doubt secure inside of him where it can’t destroy the fragile thing the two of them have built together. Instead, he sets his cup down, then takes Sora’s cup and sets it down as well. The Phantom cocks his head at him, but Haruto says nothing. He just pushes the hat back off of his head, running his fingers through Sora’s hair. It’s soft, so soft to the touch, just like his skin. He wouldn’t expect anything less of a beautician.

“What are you doing?” Sora asks, blinking up at him.

“We’ve known for months. I feel like it’s far past the time I should have done this.” He frames Sora’s face in his hands, his eyes roaming over the face he knows so well. The wide doe eyes, the full lips. “Let me kiss you, Sora, please.”

Sora swallows hard, licks his lips. Haruto watches, captivated. “Please…”

Haruto doesn’t need to hear anything else. Their first kiss is searing, blazing, Sora’s lips moving frantically against his, desperate. They both are. So little contact, so little time to spend together, always having to hide away in the shadows. His fingers tangle in Sora’s hair and he feels Sora’s hands link together behind his neck. They hold onto each other as tight as they dare, tongues meshing wetly, Haruto swallowing Sora’s gasp.

If this is all they can share, he’s going to make the most of it.

* * *

Haruto doesn’t let him take the doll away. Sora is unsurprised by this. It’s going to be the hardest part of his endeavor, separating the two of them. He doesn’t want to have to fight, to hurt the Wizard who, all doubts aside, still trusted him enough to stay on his side. Still loved him. And he wishes he could tell him that this is the only way, that Sora might be able to spare him the terrible pain coming for him by doing this. He would rather let Haruto think him selfish and cruel, though. Maybe Haruto will wise up and stop caring about him.

He doesn’t plan for Fueki. He doesn’t plan on having to run off to lick his wounds, to have to deal with the man coming forth sooner than expected to claim his lost daughter. Or, at least, her body, because the person living in the shell of Koyomi Fueki is not the girl herself. Her soul is still lost, the Philosopher’s Stone inside of her the only thing keeping her alive.

When Haruto comes looking for him at his apartment, he’s more than a little surprised. When he realizes Haruto is angry, he can handle it better. This is the Haruto he should always have known.

“Why did you try to kidnap Mayu?” he demands, his eyes burning as bright as Dragon’s flames. “Why did you try to take Koyomi? Sora, I thought we—”

“I need a wizard to use as a bargaining chip, that’s all. Fueki already has two of the Wizards he needs, and I didn’t think you would come with me willingly after what happened with your little dolly.”  _ She isn’t going to survive, Haruto. I know you care for her, but she’s dying. And you will not do what it takes to save her. _ “If you want to help me, you can be my hostage.”

He wonders if Fueki knows the truth about him and Haruto. If he does, he might not buy that Sora would use Haruto as a hostage. As far as he knows, Haruto has kept the truth of his soulmate to himself, and therefore Fueki has no way of knowing. After all, Sora has told him nothing. He will never know anything of value from Sora’s lips.

Before Haruto can choose, his policewoman friend appears. Sora sighs and takes his leave. He can’t say another word in front of anyone else.

* * *

If Fueki thought Sora Takigawa would be easy to kill, he truly did not plan for any of this.

Sora survives, though just barely. He wonders if Haruto would have been shocked at the loss of color vision and almost wishes he had died just so the bond between them would break naturally and leave Haruto in peace. But he lives, and he grasps the Hamel Cane between his fists as he does. Still transformed; the blow wasn’t even enough to render him back into his human form. With this instrument, the very thing Fueki would have used to kill every living creature in Tokyo, Sora will extract his revenge.

He sees the battle between Fueki and Haruto. He sees the moment when Fueki manages to overpower him after their transformations are broken. It’s enough to make Sora’s vision run red, to make him taste copper on the back of his tongue. Haruto has done nothing but suffer for other people, suffer for this hateful man’s dead daughter.

Sora isn’t going to let him suffer anymore, and he feels nothing when he finally ends Fueki’s miserable life. The man would have killed every single person in the entire world for a girl who had been long dead. How could Sora ever feel anything but hatred for him?

“K-Koyomi…” The weakened voice belongs to Haruto, and Sora turns to see him looking toward the doll, whose life is shortly going to come to an end. Sora could end it faster. She won’t need the Philosopher’s Stone now that she’s dying.

He turns to face her, taking in her sorry state. It would be so  _ easy _ to finish her off—

“Sora, please.” Haruto sounds pitiful to him, struggling across the sand to reach the girl. “D-don’t hurt her. Please. Don’t—”

He takes Haruto’s appearance in. Bruised, a little bloody, rumpled and disheveled, entirely drained of mana from his fight with Fueki. He’s hurt and he needs to be taken care of, he needs to get himself back home so he can rest. Sora would take him, if he asked. But Haruto isn’t looking at him; he’s looking at the doll, at Koyomi. The pain in his eyes is indescribable, the desire to get closer to her, to keep her safe. How many times has he hurt himself trying to protect her? And she was never going to last in the first place.

It doesn’t change the fact that the agony in his gaze is enough to break Sora’s heart.

“Shut up. I’m not going to.” Sora cancels his own transformation, throwing the Cane to the sand to illustrate his point. In the end, he could never do anything to hurt Haruto Souma. Instead, he picks Koyomi up in his arms and carries her to him, setting her in his lap. “Here.”

Haruto curls around her, as if protectively, and Sora flinches back in response. “Th-thank you—”

“I’m going now. I don’t know that she has much longer to live now that the Sabbath has been stopped.” Sora turns on heel. He’s done all he needs to do here, and now he can go. Haruto will need time and space to mourn, and truth be told, he probably doesn’t trust Sora anymore anyway. “Take care of her, for what time she has left.”

“Sora, wait,” Haruto calls.

“It’s  _ Gremlin, _ isn’t it?” The hated names rolls off of his tongue so easily. “That’s all I am, that’s all I’ll ever be. I’ll wait for the day when you come to kill me, too.”

He vanishes before Haruto has time to reply.

* * *

Koyomi lives long enough for Haruto to bring her back to Remnants, to tuck her into bed one last time. She lives long enough for all of their friends to come see her, to really say goodbye to her, and she is holding Haruto’s hand when she takes her last breath. Her body shimmers, brilliant golden dust that floats away in the gentle breeze coming through the open window. All that is left behind is the Philosopher’s Stone, which Haruto hides away to keep it safe.

They have a small service at Remnants for her, and the others come to pay their respects. For more reasons than one, he holds out the hope that Sora will come to say goodbye. He never sees him, not once, but he notices the lilies that he doesn’t remember anyone else bringing, and it’s enough for now. It’s enough for him.

He’s planning out an extensive travel to find somewhere safe to hide the Stone once and for all when he feels the familiar breeze on the back of his neck. There is a map at his elbow, which several pins placed in it to investigate, and he has a running list of expenses to consider. Food, hotel rooms, gas for his bike. He doesn’t look up. He doesn’t need to.

A pair of hands come to rest on his shoulders, giving a slight squeeze. “You’re tense.”

“It’s been a long month.” And it has been. “Thanks for bringing her flowers.”

Sora says nothing, just begins kneading away the stress and tension that Haruto has been carrying around with him since everything went to hell. Haruto lets him remain silent until he finishes, folding the map up and tucking everything away into the desk drawer.

“Did you come to say goodbye?” he asks, turning to face the Phantom.

To his surprise, Sora looks different. He’s ditched his usual attire for a plain black t-shirt and jeans with the knees ripped out. It looks comfortable, but it’s also strange to see Sora without his scarf or his hat. Haruto can feel that something has changed with him, but he isn’t sure what it is. He doesn’t think he has the knowledge of Sora to explain it.

“I heard you were leaving soon,” Sora says in lieu of a proper answer, perching on the edge of Haruto’s bed. “I wanted to come see for myself.”

Haruto turns to face him, straddling the chair backwards, resting his chin on the backrest. “Koyomi wanted me to take care of the Philosopher’s Stone for her. It was her final wish. So I’m going to do that for her.”

Sora nods. “That’s what I thought. She went peacefully?”

“She did. Thank you for not…” Haruto trails off, not sure if he can vocalize the scene. “For giving her to meet and letting me take care of her. I… Get the idea that wasn’t your original plan and I—”

“I couldn’t hurt you, in the end. I couldn’t do that to you. I could see in your eyes and hear in your voice how much she meant to you.” Sora tries for a smile, but it doesn’t meet his eyes. “So I did the right thing and I gave her to you. I really wanted the Philosopher’s Stone for myself, but you wanted her, and in the end, I suppose the bond between us won out.”

Haruto shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I think it was just you. Why did you want it anyway?”

“I could have become human again with it.” Sora drops the bombshell between them with no warning, and Haruto feels his eyes widen. If his chin wasn’t resting on something, his jaw would have dropped. “I could have been a human again. I could have been human for you. We could have… But it doesn’t matter now. I’m always going to be Gremlin, nothing can change that. I’ll keep you safe in your travels, safe from other Phantoms who might know. But I won’t bother you or speak to you. I’ll leave you to your peace and quiet.”

Sora had never wanted anything as much as he wanted to be human. “If I… If I gave—”

“She wanted you to keep it safe, and giving it to me is not doing that. So, no, don’t.” Sora sighs and then pushes himself to his feet, and Haruto wonders when the last time he saw Sora’s true smile was. When the last time he heard Sora giggle. Sora hadn’t even said  _ hello _ to him when he’d appeared in Haruto’s room. “I’m going to go now.”

Haruto pushes himself up just as fast. “W-wait.”

Sora stops, his back still to Haruto, but the muscles in his slender frame are tense. Without hesitation, Haruto wraps Sora up in his arms, pressing his face into his soft hair, trying to tell him with one embrace more than he’s ever been able to tell him with words. He’s surprised when Sora’s hands come to rest on top of his, when Sora leans back into his arms.

“Remember that kiss?” Sora’s voice quivers, soft and wet. “We only kissed one time. Just the once. And then I had to hurt you over and over again. I only wanted to protect you. I knew what he was going to do to bring her back. I knew it would kill you to watch so many people suffer.”

Haruto laughs into Sora’s hair. “You wanted to kill her, too, y’know. For the Philosopher’s Stone. But I… But you didn’t. I asked you not to, and you didn’t. You gave her to me, and I was able to make the time she had left mean something. You did that for me.”

Sora sniffles. “I did a lot of things for you. I suppose I did okay in the end. But now… It’s over. It’s the end. And I need to go.”

“I don’t want you to go.” Haruto squeezes him tighter, and he feels tears prick the corners of his eyes. “I just… I just want you to stay. You did things wrong, I won’t sugarcoat it. You hurt people, you killed people, but… We can figure this out. Somehow. If you stay. Stay with me and let me help you figure this out. You can go with me. We can hide the Stone together.”

When Sora laughs, the sound is disjointed and broken and hits Haruto between the ribs, right in the heart. “You can’t learn to love a monster, Haruto. That’s all I’ll ever be. I can’t turn back. I’m going to be this… This freaky monster, somewhere in the middle of logic, for the rest of my life.”

“And I’m telling you I’m fine with that.” Haruto turns him around, and somehow the sight of Sora with tear tracks down his cheeks is harder to stomach than he ever thought it would be. “I know you aren’t, but I am. I don’t look at you as just another Phantom. You’re still Sora Takigawa. Maybe… Maybe out there, we’ll find a way to turn you back. And even if we don’t, I… I just don’t want you to leave again. Please don’t go.”

“You always ask so much of me.” Sora drags a hand across his face. “Always so much. I don’t know if I can give you this. I don’t want you to see me for who I am, for what I am. I don’t want you to leave when you realize that I’m nothing but a monster.”

“I won’t leave.” Haruto drags Sora against the front of his body, holding him as tight as he can. “I’ll stay by your side no matter what happens. Just… Stay. Please.”

Sora falls asleep in his arms, and when Haruto awakens the next morning, packed and ready to travel, he expects to find Sora gone, their last night together and the wet spots on Haruto’s t-shirt the only memory he has of the Phantom.

Instead, he finds Sora perched on top of his desk, an unfamiliar bag resting on his knees. “Hello! Do you want to eat before we go?”

“We’ll grab some doughnuts on the way out of the city.” Haruto pushes himself out of bed and half-stumbles over to the desk, cupping Sora’s jaw in his hand as he presses a sleepy kiss to his lips. “Thank you for staying.”

Sora only giggles in answer. It’s enough to make Haruto feel at ease.

**Author's Note:**

> read a prompt on tumblr about the hero finding out the villain is their soulmate and being willing to do anything to make it work. and, well, here we are. sora might be one of the nastiest villains in toku but he was still an interesting and complex character.


End file.
